Earth Magic
by ShadowDrake
Summary: Queen Marlena and Orko are sharing nightmares of a werewolf... and just how does this all connect with a certain rebel leader on Etheria anyway? Okay so I suck at writing these things. : - )


Title: Earth Magic (1/?)  
Author: Shadowlander {aka ShadowDrake}  
Email: Shadowlander1@coastalnet.com  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly   
associated with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe or She-  
Ra: Princess of Power; they are used without permission. No   
copyright infringement is intended.   
Archive: You want it, you got it.  
Summary: I got bored and it seemed like the thing to write at the   
time. Actually, Queen Marlena and Orko are having rather   
strange and scary dreams that lead our heroes to something not   
quite Eternian in nature. And just what does all this have to do   
with a certain Etherian rebel leader and ex-Force Captain anyway?   
Incase anyone hasn't all ready guessed I really suck at writing   
summaries. :)  
  
EARTH MAGIC (1/?)  
  
The dream always started out the same; the palace was being over   
run by Skeletor's forces in one last blood bath to decide the fate of   
Eternia. Queen Marlena really hated this dream, not because the   
skull-faced demon kept winning and enslaving the entire planet's   
populous. Granted that was a very bad thing and had to be avoided   
at all costs, but that's not what really irritated her about the dream.   
Sure she could think of at least ten other dreams she would sooner   
have; most of which involved her and Randor in a secluded cabin   
without another soul in sight for at least fifty miles in any direction   
and lots of whip cream and a fireplace.   
  
However something about watching her friends and family getting  
butchered in front of her never really did score high on her list of  
things to dream about. Although, oddly enough, dreaming about  
Skeletor, Mer-Man, Evil-Lynn, and Beast-Man doing the can-can in   
front of a firing squad did figure pretty high on her little list of   
enjoyable dreams for some really bizarre reason. So here she was  
again, for the fourth night in a row having the dream. {Well not   
"THE" dream, because that would be just her and a naked Randor  
on a deserted island and since she really, really liked that dream   
she wouldn't have minded it being repeated every night. However,  
since the dream gods, or whatever they were called on Eternia,   
seemed to be in a rather pissed mood concerning her this week,   
there was no chance of her actually getting to have that one anytime   
soon.} Instead she gets stuck with a repeat performance of   
"House Guests From Hell" night after night. Which went a little   
something like this.  
  
The royal palace lay in ruins, the battered, torn remnants of the   
once proud royal guard lay scattered about like broken forgotten   
toys left by a bored child. Even the mightiest of Eternia's heroes,   
He-Man himself, had not been able to withstand Skeletor's last   
assault on the throne. The man who had once been the most   
powerful in all the universe lay just outside the throne room   
surrounded by hundreds of mangled attack droids and seven of   
Skeletor's most powerful henchmen; all of whom had joined He-  
Man on his journey to the other side.  
  
Now all that stood between the people of Eternia and a future of   
slavery at the booted foot of the death-faced monster, who fancied   
himself the master of the universe, was two aliens. Once long ago,   
the two had made separate journeys to the distant planet, finding   
themselves a new home and family among the royal court. Over   
the years the two had settled in, making their home in the palace,   
watching so many grow up before their eyes.  
  
Now all that had ended; their adopted home invaded, their friends   
and loved ones laying dead around them as they faced their   
executor one last time with defiance. They would not go down   
without a fight, they owed it to all those who had giving their lives   
to stop Skeletor and his minions from overrunning the palace.   
From stealing all of Eternia's hopes and dreams, but most of all   
their owed it to themselves; they may just be two aliens but this was   
their home too and they would not give it up without a fight.   
  
Skeletor stood before the last of Eternia's "defenders" tasting the   
victory that lay within his reach waiting to be claimed. After so   
many years, the throne would be his and soon all of the universe   
would fall to his great power. Just as soon as he rid himself of the   
two minor annoyances that stood at the foot of the dais leading to   
the long denied throne. Who would of thought that in the end it   
would be the court magician and the Queen herself putting up the   
most resistance to him? The two that had outlasted all of Eternia's   
great heroes, who had cost him the most with their last desperate   
act to save the doomed world?   
  
He could still feel the mind-shattering pain of his missing hand,   
one that had been so swiftly removed by the sword the battered   
bloody Queen had used so efficiently to remove from her person   
mere moments ago. The evil, self-proclaimed, master of darkness   
longed to remove the defiant Queen's oh-so amused little smirk as   
she stood ready to remove any other of his body parts that got near   
her in the immediate future. "You will beg me for death!" he   
hissed, gripping his staff firmly with his one remaining hand.   
Already picturing the countless tortures he would subject her and   
the floating little magician at her side, who had somehow   
maintained the flimsy little force field keeping him from his   
destiny. He would enjoy watching as his minions broke them both,   
first at the rack and then through daily whippings. Maybe he would   
keep the Queen as a plaything for a few centuries, tying her mortal   
life to his soon to be immortal one, once he stormed Castle   
Greyskull. He paused a moment, enjoying the look of terror that   
had crossed the woman's face at his words. He would draw out her   
death, he decided firmly, only realizing too late that the Queen   
wasn't even paying any attention to him anymore...her gaze seemed   
focused on something right behind him.  
  
"Excuse me." A voice rumbled suddenly cutting through the quiet,   
that had descended on the war torn throne room after Skeletor's   
initial cry of pain as the Queen cut off his hand, like a knife. A   
persistent tapping on his shoulder getting his attention at long last,   
with an annoyed growl the skull-faced demon turns to face the fool   
who dared to interrupt the great Skeletor. Only to find himself   
staring into a field of dark fur!..but that was impossible Beast Man   
lay dead near the palace gates, having been killed by Man-at-Arms   
even as the creature had been breaking his back. Besides the mindless   
fool would never have challenged his master, his rational mind   
reason. A low growl cutting through the confusion clouding his   
mind, drawing his gaze upward. Until the wannabe conquer finds   
himself staring into the face of something even more scarier then   
he would ever be no matter how long he lived.  
  
The creature was huge, a near giant of fur and muscle, that seemed   
to loom over him. Its muzzle slightly parted giving Skeletor a good   
look at the rows of fangs filling its mouth. "You are trespassing."   
A deep booming voice growled, a clawed finger coming up to poke at   
his chest knocking him back a few steps into the flimsy force field   
that had been barring his way just moments ago, now trapping him   
with this creature from the great abyss. "Can I kill him, Marlena?"   
the creature suddenly asked one massive hand wrapping around his   
neck and lifting him off the ground.  
  
A quick squeeze caused Skeletor to drop his staff as the creature   
shook with laughter at his strangled protest. Its glowing yellow eyes   
boring into the master of evil, with a power unlike any he had ever   
encountered before. "Sure." Came the soft-spoken answer right   
before the creature plunged its hand into his chest and pulling out   
his cold black uncaring heart. Dropping the lifeless body of   
Eternia's would be conquer the creature turns it attention to the   
two figures huddled before it, their terror hanging heavily in the air.   
"Can't leave you alone for a moment can I?" The creature asked   
cocking its massive head to one side. It seemed to be thinking   
something over, as if it was deciding to tear out their hearts as well.   
"I'm coming for you," it added after a moment. "WAKE UP!"  
  
*******************************************************************************  
  
Queen Marlena set straight up in bed, her heart threatening to   
pound itself out of her chest, a strangled gasped ripped from her   
lips as she tries to untangle herself from the nightmare images   
playing themselves out in her mind. Slowing her rapid breathing,   
she tries to recall as much of the nightmare as possible. Knowing   
that she would be taking another trip to Castle Greyskull in a few   
hours to recount as much as she could to the Sorceress, in hope   
that some answer could be found in the sacred halls of Greyskull.   
At this moment Marlena was ready to consult with the Ancients   
themselves if it meant putting a stop to the dreams. Only to nearly   
jump out of her skin as a hand reaches out of the dark even as the   
bedroom door flies open slamming itself against the wall.  
  
"We heard a cry," Man-at-Arms explained hurriedly, sword in hand,   
clad only in his sleeping shorts, his sleep addled mind still playing   
catch up. Behind him the royal guards on duty arriving in pairs,   
filling the corridor having been alerted by the same call that had   
pulled him, yet again out of a sound sleep for the forth night in a row.   
He could hear his daughter's voice in the outer corridor calling for   
order, as she quickly mobilized the assembling guards to secure the   
area.   
  
Reaching over to turn on a bedside lamp, King Randor briefly looks   
up at his old friend standing in the threshold of the royal   
apartments, before returning his attention to his trembling wife.   
"We're fine Duncan." He says in a choked voice gathering Marlena   
in his arms, his own heart pounding in his ears. He hated the   
effects of the nightmares were having on his wife, it was rare that   
either of them had ever been forced from slumber. Well not since   
the early days of their daughter's abduction by the evil Hordak   
anyway. "The dream...was it about the creature again?" He finally   
asks in a low voice, absently running his hands down her back in a   
soothing manner.   
  
Absently shaking her head, Marlena tries to regain control of   
herself. Only to be interrupted by the arrival of an equally terrified   
Orko flying through the open doorway over Man-at-Arms' head,   
the little court magician having awoke in much the same manner as   
the Queen. Without a word the little magician throws his arms   
around Marlena's neck, even as she reaches up with one arm to   
return the hold, not leaving the safety of the King's arms. This too   
had been happening over the last four nights turning the palace   
upside down as everyone from the court physician to the Sorceress   
herself, tried to find the meaning of the shared nightmares the two   
have been having.   
  
After a moment, "This is getting really old." Marlena said in a   
shaky voice with a small smile. "On the upside I did get to cut off   
one of Skeletor's hands this time." She continued, trying to find   
some humour in recurring nightmares, even as Randor and   
Duncan stared at her in disbelief. Sometimes they really didn't   
understand her. Only to laugh again at the matching   
dumbfounded looks on Randor and Duncan faces. Sometimes it   
was just too easy teasing them, she decided with a faint grin. Once   
again forgetting about the slight culture barrier she constantly faced   
over that last two decades. Granted the over all language may be   
the same, but some things just do not translate all that well,   
apparently her sense of humour was one of them.  
  
End Part One. 


End file.
